This pooled dataset presents data collected through four (4) sequential cross-sectional surveys of undergraduates in six (6) selected Nigerian universities. The data were collected from a total of 12,615 undergraduates studying courses in the social sciences, sciences and engineering disciplines. The surveys assessed entrepreneurship interest, background and experience of the respondents. The dataset is useful for research, policy and practice in several ways. Coming from surveys repeated at intervals of between four and five years, the dataset allows for an assessment of the impacts of the compulsory entrepreneurship training that was introduced in the Nigerian university system at about the time of the first survey. It can also be used to quantify the potential pool of future entrepreneurs among the highly educated Nigerian youth. Additionally, the dataset presents a full entrepreneurship profile of a very large pooled cross-sectional sample of educated young people in the largest and most populous nation in sub-Saharan Africa. Consequently, researchers, policymakers, donors and other development practitioners seeking to characterize and design appropriate interventions for youths in the developing world will find this dataset valuable.
This article analyses entrepreneurial interest and practice as well as the impact of an education policy among a representative sample of highly educated young Nigerians. We use pooled cross-sectional data from 2007 and 2011 on about 27,000 undergraduates in over 50 schools. Our descriptive analyses reveal a high prevalence of interest in entrepreneurship but low prevalence of entrepreneurial practice. In a set of difference-in-differences estimation, the results show that compulsory entrepreneurship education stimulates entrepreneurial interest but does not reinforce it. Quite strikingly, we find that the rate of entrepreneurial practice diminished among students who were exposed to entrepreneurship education compared to the control sample. This suggests that entrepreneurship education improves selection into actual entrepreneurship practice by filtering out individuals with initial interest but with lower perceived success potential.
Nigeria has a very large research system, with nearly 200 universities that employed more than 60,000 academic staff at the end of 2019. The country is also one of Africa’s largest producers of scientific research across all disciplines, surpassed only by South Africa and Egypt. In the social sciences, in particular, Nigeria is Africa’s second-largest producer of published research, after South Africa. However, the country’s social science research (SSR) production does not match the size of its SSR system. Using mixed methods, we come up with two important reasons for this: (i) research inputs are low, mainly because research is poorly funded and researchers devote too little time to research as a result of poor organisational climate, and (ii) the research support system is weak. No single institution currently has a clear mandate to centrally coordinate SSR in Nigeria. Consequently, research efforts are often duplicated and the limited research resources are spread too thin. Moreover, logistical support for research is missing or inefficient in most organisations. Therefore, improving research productivity in the country would require much stronger research coordination and wide-ranging improvements in the research climate.
This dataset presents data collected from three surveys, each among researchers, research administrators and policymakers across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria. The data were collected from 513 researchers, 118 research administrators and 60 policymakers drawn from randomly selected organizations that are implicated in Social Science Research (SSR) in Nigeria, which include: 53 universities; 5 research institutes; 17 government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and donors; 9 private consultancies; 26 civil society organisations, private consultancies; and 7 Houses of Assembly. The surveys assessed several factors that impart the production, dissemination and uptake of social science research (SSR) in Nigeria, including research personnel, funding, infrastructure, mentoring, communication practices and products, policy-friendliness, among many others. The data are important in understanding the status of SSR and its potential to influence sustainable development in a typical developing country like Nigeria. The usefulness of the data is many folds as every stakeholder in the research-policy-development nexus is implicated. Ultimately, the data is useful in characterizing SSR system and formulating policies to boost its status and potential.
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